Thanks to Yarn Bar in Billings, Montana for Hosting a Fifty Four Ten Studio Trunk Show!

Recently, I shipped five of my favorite blanket samples off across the country for a trunk show at Yarn Bar...a yarn shop in Billings, Montana.  After the box arrived safely, Sue and Linda, the owners of Yarn Bar, sent this lovely photo of the trunk show set-up.  The blankets will be on display through Saturday, October 5, 2019.

I'm so appreciative of their thoughtful, attractive display of my blanket samples!

Fifty Four Ten Studio trunk show at Yarn Bar in Montana

It's feeling very appropriate that my first 'out-of-town' trunk show is in Montana.  A few months ago, my aunt mentioned that she enjoyed reading my January blog post that mentioned the Yarn Bar store.  She reminded me that her father (my grandfather) worked for a while in Billings, Montana when he was a young man.  He was a traveling salesman - selling candy, playing cards and other small items wholesale to grocery stores - around the Montana and northern Wyoming region.  It was the mid-1930's - early 1940's.  Times were tough.  Jobs were hard to come by.  He didn't talk about this time in his life very often....but he did just enough for us to know that he had persevered through some hard times.

In 1942, he took a chance on a job offer in Kansas City.  One of the biggest challenges was finding a place to live - it was war time and housing options were very limited.  He was able to rent a one- bedroom apartment on the 7th floor of a 'hotel'.  Soon, his wife and two very young daughters joined him in Kansas City.  It was a tight living situation that he thought would be short term.  The four of them lived in the one-bedroom apartment for eight years...far longer than he planned.

After looking for a long time (housing was scarce during the war years) - they purchased their first home.  The house number was 5410....the number that inspired the name Fifty Four Ten Studio.  Here's a favorite winter photo of the house....

My grandparent's house - 5410.

My frugal, hard-working grandfather would be quite pleased that I've made this connection with a yarn shop in Billings.  He died in 1998...so it would be hard for him to comprehend that I connected with Sue and Linda through the internet and social media!  He was of the paper, pencil and land-line telephone era.

Here's a closer look at the blankets that I sent to Yarn Bar for the trunk show...

Fifty Four Ten Studio - blankets for knitting trunk show!

The patterns shown in the photo above - clockwise starting from the top:

Click links to learn more about the patterns here on my blog...

Green: Prairie Fields blanket
Blue: On the Map blanket
Stone: Stay on the Ridge blanket
Turquoise: Dance on the Breeze blanket
Light Stone / Tan: Northern Trail blanket

Sue and Linda added their store sample of my 'On the Porch' blanket knitting pattern to the trunk show.  They have had this beautiful yellow blanket on display in their store for quite a while.  They used Cestari Sheep Mount Vernon worsted weight yarn in the colorway 'Daffodil'.  (Sue and Linda rave about this yarn - it's on my list to try!)  This blanket is so full of sunshine!

On the Porch blanket - store sample by Yarn Bar in Billings, Montana

One of these days I'm going to make it out to Montana to meet Sue and Linda in person!  I can't thank them enough for all their kindness and support.

In other news....I'm working on a couple of new knitting projects (more on those soon!), reading a good book (Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson), watching the Country Music series by Ken Burns on PBS, and patiently waiting for some nice, cool fall days to arrive here in Kansas City!

Have a great day!

Mary Lee
Fifty Four Ten Studio